ForestNavigator aims at assessing the climate mitigation potential of European forests and forest-based sectors through modelling of policy pathways, consistent with the best standards of LULUCF reporting, and informing the public authorities on the most suitable approach to forest policy and bioeconomy. With a primarily European scope, ForestNavigator zooms into carefully selected EU Member States to enhance the consistency of the EU and national pathways, but the project also zooms out towards the global scale, and selected key EU trading partners, accounting for extra-EU future drivers and potential leakage effects.
Approach
The project will rely on a newly developed integrated policy modelling framework for the EU forests and forest bioeconomy covering
- all relevant mitigation strategies from forest management to energy and material substitution,
- climate change impacts, adaptation, and natural disturbances,
- biophysical climate feedbacks,
- systematically accounting for impacts on biodiversity, forest ecosystem services, and other forest functions, incl. jobs and green growth.
To increase the accessibility of the models and pathways assessments, their understanding and transparency, a novel decision-making platform will be established consisting of the web-based ForestNavigator Portal, and a community of policy-makers, national authorities, and modelers, the Forest Policy Modelling Forum.
To reach its ambitious objectives, ForestNavigator will
- harmonize, integrate, and continuously update existing datasets by, including national inventories with new remote sensing data and models,
- start from complex forest and climate models and through emulators build them into operational policy modelling tools,
- integrate biophysical and socio-economic information,
- consider EU forests and forest bioeconomy in the broader context of other land use and economic sectors,
- rely on input from policy makers and other stakeholders.
© IIASA
Project Consortium:
- INTERNATIONALES INSTITUT FUER ANGEWANDTE SYSTEMANALYSE, AT
- UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN, AT
- JOHANN HEINRICH VON THUENEN-INSTITUT, BUNDESFORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUER LAENDLICHE RAEUME, WALD UND FISCHEREI, DE
- AGENZIA NAZIONALE PER LE NUOVE TECNOLOGIE, L'ENERGIA E LO SVILUPPO ECONOMICO SOSTENIBILE, IT
- FOREST ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND SERVICES LIMITED, IE
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, IE
- INSTITUTE FOR EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, BE
- YUCATROTE LDA, PT
- E3-MODELLING AE, EL
- CLIMATE ANALYTICS GMBH, DE
- SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET, SE
- HELMHOLTZ ZENTRUM POTSDAM, DEUTSCHES GEOFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM GFZ, DE
- PILLI ROBERTO, IT
- LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN, DE
- CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE, IT
- IFER USTAV PRO VYZKUM LESNICH EKOSYSTEMU SRO, CZ
- HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO, FI
- STICHTING WAGENINGEN RESEARCH, NL
- ARTTIC INNOVATION GMBH, DE
- INSTITUT TECHNOLOGIQUE FCBA, FR
- EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH, CH
- JRC - JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE - EUROPEAN COMMISSION, BE
- PEKING UNIVERSITY, CN
- ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, CN
© EU
ForestNavigator has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101056875.
News
Annual Report 2025: Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program Highlights
Balancing the needs of people and nature is one of the defining challenges of our time. Throughout 2025, the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program advanced research on how societies can pursue climate, biodiversity, and development goals while managing growing pressures on land, water, energy, and ecosystems.
08 April 2026
Forest Talks webinar explores integrating Earth observation and national forest inventories across Europe
The most recent edition of the Forest Talks webinar series – jointly hosted by the ForestNavigator project (coordinated by IIASA) together with the ForestPaths and PathFinder projects – brought together researchers, modelers, and national reporting experts to discuss advances in Earth observation (EO) for forest monitoring and greenhouse gas inventory support across Europe.
23 May 2025
The role of forests in addressing climate and biodiversity challenges in a sustainable bioeconomy
Forests play an essential role in mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity. As Europe moves forward on its climate and sustainability journey, it is crucial that forest-related policies and management practices evolve to fully support these goals.
Events
Stockholm, Sweden
IIASA at IUFRO World Congress 2024
Vienna, Austria and online